1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to an effective and efficient method of producing bamboo fibers in which the inner thin skin portion (medullary layer) of bamboo has been removed.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of producing fibers from bamboo has been proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-7903, according to which bamboo fibers are obtained by explosive opening, which results in large variations in length and diameter of the obtained bamboo fibers. Thus, the method cannot be regarded as ideal for the production of fibers as a material for industrial use.
In view of this, the present inventors have proposed a method of producing bamboo fibers quickly and efficiently (Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2-402672 and 3-193161) and, through subsequent study, they have found that, to produce bamboo fibers as a material for industrial use, it was desirable to remove the thin portion inside the bamboo. In this case, for example, of bamboo-fiber reinforced cement panels which are produced by mixing bamboo fibers with cement and shaping the mixture into panels, use of bamboo fibers from which the inner thin skin portion has been removed provides a flexural strength approximately 15% higher than when using bamboo fibers with the inner thin skin portion.